Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild)

Berrizbeitia, M. Fernanda Lopez, Sanchez, R. Tatiana, Barquez, Ruben M. & Diaz, M. Monica, 2017, An update on the distribution and nomenclature of fleas (Order Siphonaptera) of bats (Order Chiroptera) and rodents (Order Rodentia) from La Rioja Province, Argentina, ZooKeys 678, pp. 139-154 : 140

Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild)

Distribution in Argentina.

Buenos Aires and La Rioja ( Lareschi et al. 2016).

Material examined.

None.

Additional records.

No specific locality, Epimys decumanus Pallas, 1 ♂; Epimys sp., 4 ♂, many ♀ ( Hopkins and Rothschild 1953).

Remarks.

Xenopsylla cheopis differs from all other species of the genus by the following characters: in males, sternum IX with distal arm equally sclerotized throughout; in females, the tail of spermatheca is not strongly swollen ( Johnson 1957). Hopkins and Rothschild (1953) cited Epimys decumanus Pallas and Epimys sp. as hosts which, follow the nomenclature of Wilson and Reeder (2005), but are synonymous with R. norvegicus Berkenhout and Rattus sp., respectively. Xenopsylla cheopis is the most efficient vector of Yersinia pestis (Lehmann and Neumann), responsible for the bubonic plague ( Boyer et al. 2014). Although only old records of this species are cited from La Rioja Province, it is important to mention that this is the only record for northwestern Argentina. The absence of more and newer records of this species is probably a reflection of mammalogists exerting little effort in the study of domestic rats.